GARRATSVILLE – If you’re someone who occasionally needs a GPS unit to find your way back to the fairway, then Tsuga Links Golf Course is probably not for you.
Tsuga Links (soon to be renamed) places a premium on accuracy and distance control, but do not be scared by the nearly 3,000-yard-plus layout. The course does not play nearly that long.
What awaits you at almost every turn, though, is some sort of trouble lurking left, right or even right in front of you. It isn’t until the sixth hole, a 155-yard par three, that one catches somewhat of a breather. Yet, that hole is uphill, and just half of the pin is visible from the tee. Considering the green is nearly 30 yards in length, club selection is critical.
Tsuga Links was the inspiration of original owner Gary Elliott, who designed the nine-hole layout. He opened for business three years ago, but failed to generate a significant amount of play.
I was given a brief summary of the current state of ownership by the shop attendant (I do not remember his name). He said the Elliotts turned over the business earlier this year to the owners of Butternuts Beer and Ale. According to the website, thefoaminghead.com, Chuck Williamson is the Butternuts Beer and Ale company founder and head brewer. The affable shop attendant, who just moved to New York two weeks ago, told me that the Williamsons do not have any working knowledge of running a golf course, but have the right people in place to drum up business and make the layout a little more player friendly.
Much of the overgrown areas that line each hole have been cleaned up and mowed down. Still, there are plenty of other areas that would make those with the faint of swing nervous.
I am not familiar with membership rates at the course, and taking into consideration that Tsuga Links is well off the beaten path, I can’t imagine too many people claiming Tsuga Links as their home course. For now, course management’s simple goal in 2011 is to get players on the course. The greens fee, for one, is the best I have seen anywhere in a long, long time. For $10, you can play all day as much as you want.
Last weekend, a co-worker of mine, Mark DeMellier, told me the greens fee price at Tsuga Links, and I literally drooled at the opportunity to take a shot (pardon the pun) at the course.
